A Little Surprise
by Nanenna
Summary: "why are there two of you?" (Undertale AUs Aftertale and Reapertale, Sans/Sans AfterDeath, eventual poly)
1. A Little Surprise

Rated T for swearing.

* * *

Reaper hummed to himself as he waited for his order to be finished. He was in a little mom-and-pop café, their coffee wasn't anything special but they baked their own pastries right in house. And Reaper happened to know Geno was fond of them. Really, really fond of them. He whipped out his phone to check for new messages despite not hearing an alert or feeling a buzz, still no response. Either Geno was napping or engrossed in one of his books. Reaper smiled all the wider, his adorable little datefriend wouldn't be suspicious about him taking a bit longer.

"Order for… Grim Reaper?"

Reaper quickly tucked his phone back away and went to go collect his order. "thanks," he said absently as he carefully gathered up his things without touching anyone.

"Oh wow, you really do look like the Grim Reaper." The barista laughed as he pushed the items closer to Reaper, four cups in a little cardboard cup carrier and a bag filled with cupcakes. "Is this all for a movie or something? I wouldn't expect them to send an actor on a gopher run, especially not such a handsome one." The barista leaned an elbow on the counter, claws trailing through the fur around his neck.

"nah, work day's done, this is for me and my datefriend to share."

The barista cooed, "That's so sweet. You two have fun now." He winked, then waved cheerfully. Reaper just gave a nod before heading out, carefully sidestepping the queue of customers that nearly reached the door. Once safely out he headed behind the café and into a convenient little alley to take a shortcut.

He ended up right where he aimed: Geno's living room. "geno? you awake?" The first place he checked was the couch, which was sitting right in front of him and empty save for a rumpled blanket half fallen to the floor. Looked like Geno'd just gotten up.

"buddy, you'd better explain."

That was Geno's voice, and it sounded like it came form near the patch of grass? Reaper navigated around the furniture acting as a pseudo wall until the patch came into view. What he saw nearly had him dropping his burdens.

Standing between the house and the patch of light was Geno.

And another Geno.

Another Geno suspiciously missing all his glitches and standing defensively, looking ready to fight the Geno that currently had his back to Reaper. It reminded him so strongly of his first meeting with Geno if it weren't for the other one Reaper would wonder if he just went back in time.

"who the hell is that?!" The glitchless Geno caught sight of Reaper and shifted his stance, wincing as he did so.

"uuuuuuh…" Reaper said elegantly.

The other Geno whipped around to face him. "shit. reaper, i can explain."

"reaper? you mean the goth store reject clothing isn't just a costume?"

"geno," Reaper asked gently as said skeleton ran a hand down his face, "why are there two of you?"

A deep sigh, "i overslept."

"you… you what?"

"you overslept?" Reaper asked in confusion.

"ugh!" The Geno with glitches threw his hands in the air. "the kid was going pretty slow, i thought i had more time." He let his hands drop and sighed deeply, "by the time i woke up hey is that sunny pete's?"

"huh?" Reaper blinked slowly as he tried to process whether or not that even counted as a coherent sentence.

Geno was already grabbing the bag full of cupcakes out of Reaper's unresisting fingers. "oooooooh! you got me a death by chocolate!"

"wait, what?" The glitchless Geno completely dropped his defensive stance, wincing in the process, and shortcut next to the glitching Geno's side, trying to peek over his shoulder.

This was getting confusing fast, they needed to sort out names soon.

"geno, darling, babe, love of my life…"

"wait, WHAT?!" Glitchless Geno jumped back, staring between the two of them in shock.

Geno was too busy unwrapping his death by chocolate cupcake to pay the other Geno any mind. The other Geno quickly became too distracted by the chocolate to pay any mind either.

"can i have a bite?"

"no way!"

Reaper sighed as the two Genos immediately dashed off into a mad chase, one trying to keep his contraband out of the other's grasp without crushing them, the first cupcake already shoved into his mouth whole.

"geno, share with… yourself. other geno? geno junior?"

"ugh, reaper! really?!"

They must have reached some kind of bullshit capacity on Geno Junior, he stomped a foot and huffed in annoyance. "why does he keep calling you that? why do you keep calling him that? isn't he another us? and why is there a sort of house… furniture collection…. THING in the middle of all this… VOID?!"

"and why are there two of you?" Reaper firmly added for good measure.

"okay, yeah. let's move this to the couch."

"you gonna share one of those cupcakes?"

Geno growled and clutched the bag to his chest. Reaper held up the until then forgotten carrier, plucked one of the disposable cups out, and held it out to Geno Junior, "caramel mocha latte."

Geno's eye grew wide, he lunged for the drink but Geno Junior was right there and snatched up the prize. Geno grumbled, then turned his wide, puppy dog socket Reaper's way. Was that a lip tremble? Pretty impressive considering not a one of them had lips.

"you got some frosting on your grin."

Geno licked it off with a pleased hum. Geno Junior loudly slurped his coffee, giving a pleased hum of his own. Reaper took a moment to let himself feel smug about that, then moved with the two tiny twins over to the couch. Reaper ended up in the center, presumably as a sort of wall to intercept any chocolate thievery. Jokes on them, he knows better than to get between Geno and chocolate. The remaining coffees ended up in Reaper's lap, he picked one up and chugged it. After the good bracing of caffeine (shame it was one of his favorite flavors, he would have enjoyed savoring it) he dropped the empty cup into a portal to… somewhere. Then he picked up the next cup and sipped at it delicately. "okay, story time."

"yeah, yeah." Instead of starting his story, Geno picked up one of the other cupcakes (this one was called the "white tie caramel"), unwrapped it, and took a bite. "thanks babe, these are the best."

Reaper preened, he would never say no to praise from his cute, little, stubborn datefriend.

"okay, first things first," Geno turned to his doppelganger as he spoke, "i got here the same way you did, only i did it a looooooooooong while ago."

Geno Junior looked around the pseudohouse in a "no duh" kind of way. "so wait, why was i still around at all if you were already… wherever we are?"

"it's called the save screen, it's how frisk does their time bullshit. and the same thing happened to me as happened to you, not all of us made it here."

Being reminded of the state of Geno's soul, Reaper took a moment to peek at the two fragmented souls beside him. Geno's shard was the same as it ever was, all long and slim with a little free floating piece. Geno Junior's was different, like a lopsided trapezoid with one curved side. Well at least he'd have an easy way to tell them apart once Geno Junior figured glitches out. Reaper slung an arm over Geno's shoulders and cuddled him close.

"so if this has been going on for a while, and the kid's been killing us the whole time, how am i only the second sans or… geno or whatever to end up here?"

"usually i keep an eye on things when the kid's on a genocide run-"

"oh! is that where the name comes from?"

"yeah, now lemme finish the story. if it looks like what's left of us out there is going for the dt i pull him in here. heh, seeing my face is usually enough of a d.a.r.e. ad to get the point across."

Reaper dropped a quick kiss on Geno's head. "i like the way you look."

"yeah, but you're biased."

"so you normally stop what's left of us out there from doing the same dumb shit i just pulled, but this time you overslept."

Geno blushed and hunched into his scarf, "yeah."

"and neither of us is dead because?"

Geno shrugged, jostling Reaper's arm, "weird save screen logic? no one can die here."

"lucky me!" Reaper said happily.

"because he's not already dust and still around for you to date?"

Geno laughed at that, "i mean kinda? but backwards? he's literally death incarnate. but, you know… without the whole carnate thing." When Geno Junior only stared at him blankly, Geno continued with his explanation, "normally his touch kills."

Geno Junior stared at Reaper in horror, quickly scooting as far down the couch as he could. "wait, how? what? are we death incarnate too? i thought he was another sans like us?"

"pal, i know you know about the multiple worlds theory. there's more than just little looping offshoots of our own timeline, you know."

"do you have any idea how weird it was to find out there were monsters who were mortal out there? let alone that so far ours is the only timeline where we're gods AND we're responsible for keeping things running in the ENTIRE multiverse! it's exhausting."

"i think i've got a headache." As if to prove his point Geno Junior rubbed angrily at his brow. Reaper thought it was really cute how angry and full of spitfire both versions of Geno were, had always been, really. "but you are actually a sans, right?"

"yup," Reaper happily popped the P, "reaper's just a nickname to help keep down confusion when dealing with all the other sanses running around the multiverse."

"this is so weird."

Geno laughed, "wait until you meet fresh."

"i don't think i actually want to."

The three of them lapsed into contemplative silence after that. Reaper finished off his current coffee, then started on his last one, Geno pulled out another cupcake, Geno Junior finished off his own coffee.

"so…" Geno Junior started after the silence went on for just a little too long, "now what?"

"well we can't leave the save screen without dying, so i guess we're roommates now."

Reaper wasn't sure if that was going to be great or awful for them. On the one hand it would be a lot less lonely, on the other hand Reaper couldn't think of a worse person to be stuck with than yourself. "i suppose i'll have to make a shopping trip then."

"why?" Both Genos asked in creepy unison.

"another bed if nothing else."

"the bed's pretty big," Geno pointed out.

"and it's not like this is the first time i've… we've had to share a bed with a sibling. we're basically like twins, right? it wouldn't be any different than when we were kids and had to share with… with…" Geno Junior trailed off, both him and Geno clutching at their respective scarves.

"well, if you don't mind sharing me along with the bed i certainly don't mind." Reaper waggled his eyebrow ridges as hard as he could for emphasis.

Reaper got his desired reaction when both Geno's flushed bright, cherry red, his Geno hit him playfully in the shoulder and groaned.

"okay yeah, another bed. may as well go for the whole bedroom while you're at it, more privacy screens… and that shower!"

"another phone," Reaper said as if he hadn't heard that last part, "more chocolate… are you going to need a bigger kitchen? or i can set up a second one, i know some cooks have a hard time sharing."

"that's a lot… we don't… that is… won't that be expensive?!"

"that's what i keep asking, but he keeps saying it's not a big deal."

"don't worry, i got deep pockets."

"let me guess, six feet deep?" Geno laughed at his own joke, Reaper and Geno Junior (and weren't they going to be mad when they figured out that's what he was calling him this whole time) joined in, all three grinning broadly.

Things were going to be okay, maybe a little weird at first. Heck, things were probably going to be weird for a while, but Reaper thought they'd get through it. Best of all, they'd get through it together.

* * *

For those curious (because I decorate cakes and cupcakes for a living)

Death by chocolate: devil's food cake cupcake, filled with fudge, frosted with rich chocolate buttercream, drizzled with chocolate ganache, and sprinkled with dark chocolate shavings.

Caramel White Tie: a white cupcake, filled with caramel filling, topped with rich chocolate buttercream, drizzled with caramel, and sprinkled with white and dark chocolate shavings.

(White tie is white cake with chocolate frosting and tuxedo is chocolate cake with white frosting, I'd make that one with raspberry filling, chocolate ganache drizzle, and a raspberry on top)

Also this is my fic, so you know eventually it will be a threesome. XD


	2. A Little Date

Reaper hefted the grocery bags he'd been carrying onto the counter (it was monster food, it'd be fine), then turned and wandered through his home in the Save Screen. "geno? cider?" Where had his datefriend and datefriend's brand new roommate gone off to? Not in the kitchen, not in the living room, but he did find them in the bedroom. Laying on top of the bedding, curled up like a pair of kittens, their skulls barely brushed while they held each others' hands tightly, Reaper found the twin glitches fast asleep, soul fragments pulsing faintly in time with each other. It was something Reaper had noticed whenever they touched, the usual ebb and glow of their souls synced up.

Reaper spent a moment just watching the two of them sleep, their faces soft without their usual cute scowl. He really hoped Frisk was on at least a neutral run or had just Reset and there wasn't about to be a third Geno running around.

He shortcut into the living room to snag the blanket off the couch, then back to the bedroom to lay it over Cider and Geno, tucking himself in behind Geno while he was at it. He was a little disappointed Geno was asleep, he got to spend so little time with his datefriend as it was, but he couldn't bring himself to wake them both. So he happily spooned up to Geno, sternum pressed to Geno's spine, arm tucked over Geno's ribs, his phalanges tracing the long familiar bones there. Or what was left of them. As he traced splintered bones, Reaper idly wondered if Cider looked the same beneath his clothes. Their shirts had identical slashes through them, their sockets melted the same way beneath their glitches, did Cider have the same "moth eaten" look to his bones? Or did having that much less soul when he started dying affect how he dusted?

Perhaps Reaper would be lucky enough to find out first hand someday, for now the thought of either of his darlings dusting was too morbid even for the god of Death. He nuzzled the back of Geno's neck, breathing in the scent of him and just enjoying the rise and fall of his ribs, the occasional twitch of a limb, the gentle glow of a soul at rest, the warm magic thrumming through ley lines, all signs that Geno was alive and warm in his arms.

Eventually Geno began to stir, Cider next to him blinking open his socket at the same time. Geno turned over to look back at Reaper with a bleary, fuzzy eye pip. He made a sleepy kind of questioning sound.

Reaper leaned forward and dropped a chaste kiss on his cheek, "morning, sleepy skull."

"mornin'," Geno mumbled back. He blinked and yawned, then blinked again, his pip just that much less fuzzy as he focused back on Reaper. "how long you been here?"

"not long." Time was meaningless in the Save Screen.

"watching us sleep like a creeper," Geno joked.

"it's not creepy if we're dating," Reaper singsonged while pulling Geno in for a hug.

"we're not," Cider stated blandly through a wide grin.

"not my fault you chose to sleep with my datefriend, i can't help it if i get jealous."

A pair of bright red tongues were their only retort, Reaper took that as a win. Cider threw off the blanket and scooted to the edge of the bed. Geno started to move to follow, but Reaper tightened his grip and gave a needy little whimper. When Geno turned to glare at him, Reaper gave his best puppy dog impression (not easy without any pips in his void-like sockets). Geno rolled his eye pip, but leaned in and gave Reaper the kiss he wanted. Reaper gave a happy little rumble and pulled Geno in closer, deepening the kiss.

When they eventually pulled away from each other Geno's pip was much brighter than before, if hazy again. "we should get up," Geno murmured.

"oooooooorrrrrrrr we could spend our whole date here. in bed. _together_~✧･ﾟ: ✣ ⋆"

Geno looked off to the side, then back up at Reaper, "i had plans…"

"oh! what kind of plans? can i help make them into reality?" The brow waggle as Reaper asked his last question was half joking, but he really was excited Geno had planned something for them.

"well you won't find out if you sit around in bed all day."

"oh alright." Reaper let Geno go so he could scoot off the bed. Rather than do that himself, Reaper just floated over the whole thing until he caught up with Geno, then took his datefriend's hand and drifted beside him into the kitchen.

Cider was pouring steaming hot water over the fancy, mad-scientist-looking glass coffee brewer he'd bought on Geno's request a while back. It had turned out Geno had used his then shiny new smartphone to look up the best ways to brew coffee for his coffee obsessed datefriend. Damn, was Reaper ever lucky! And not just because the coffee that came out of the thing was delicious.

"give it a minute to finish draining," Cider said absently as Geno rummaged through the cupboards.

"guess i should've distracted him longer," Geno teased.

"you can distract me now~" Reaper pulled Geno into a hug, his chin resting on his little datefriend's head.

Geno rumbled an objection, like he always did whenever Reaper did something to show off how much taller he was. Even if Reaper did have to float a little higher to do so comfortably. "we're both sanses," he mumbled angrily, "why're you so damn tall?"

"i guess i'm just blessed."

Geno and Cider both snickered. Cider took over the cupboard rummaging while Reaper held Geno captive for snuggles. "aha!" He pulled a thermos from the cupboard and set it next to the coffee, tossed the grounds, then poured the fresh coffee into the thermos. "there you go, have fun on your date." Was that a brow waggle? Nice.

"oh, we will," Geno practically purred as he accepted the thermos. Reaper couldn't help the wild grin that spread across his face, he would have expected Geno to blush and bluster like he always did whenever one of their rare guests insinuated anything. Reaper guessed being time displaced clones of the same person made being shy pointless? Eh, he'd just accept it.

Cider gave one last finger waggle wave as Geno took a shortcut, Reaper still draped over his back.

What greeted Reaper was a quaint little picnic set up, complete with the red and white checked blanket Reaper had bought when he'd gotten the idea to take Geno on a picnic date. In fact… Reaper looked around them. Two fake trees with a hammock strung between them (turned out sex was actually pretty tricky on that thing, but it was great for naps), a fake grass rug under the blanket, some potted fake plants spread around, three backdrops painted to look like distant rolling hills and a blue sky, and a spotlight above those to imitate the sun.

"this is where i took you for a picnic."

"yeah, seemed a waste to use it only once." Geno slipped out from under Reaper to amble over to a wicker basket sitting on a corner of the checked blanket. He set down the thermos, then started pulling items from the basket. Lots of items, all looking fresh and homemade. Clearly Geno had gone all out to plan this.

"that's so sweet of you." Reaper settled down on one side of the blanket, watching as Geno opened and set out containers upon containers of finger foods: sandwiches cut up into bite sized pieces, fried chicken, tacos, pigs in blankets, lasagna cupcakes, soft pretzels, canapes, mini quiches, spring rolls, deviled eggs, cranberry turkey wraps, mini roasted vegetable kebabs, loaded potato skins, chips and dip, pocket pies, a meat and cheese platter, more pocket pies, what looked like a bunch of chopped up s'mores squished together and cut up like brownies, strawberries cut and filled to look like deviled eggs, cookies, actual brownies, another thermos, some cups, and finally a pair of plates, one of which was handed over to reaper. "that is… a lot of food."

"cider helped me make it all," Geno said absently as he started picking and choosing a few things to fill his plate.

"it seems a shame not to share it with him."

"don't worry, we were both taste testing everything before packing it up."

Reaper slumped with a sigh, "it just seems cruel to leave him behind like this. i know how lonely the save screen was for you before we met, still is with how much work i have to do. what little time i do get here i usually spend with you, leaving him all alone."

"i guess that is a bit lonely for him, especially because he was never as alone here as i was at the beginning. but it's not so bad, you do spend time with him, plus he has that phone you got him, error and fresh stopped by to meet him, and even when there's no one else i'm still here. so it's… it's not so bad," Geno repeated. "it's not like… like when i first got here."

Reaper scooted closer until the distance between them was closed and pulled Geno into a one armed hug. "you know, when he first showed up i was afraid the two of you would be too similar to get along, a bit too much like being trapped in a room with an echo flower."

Geno snorted, "a broken echo flower, maybe." He popped a deviled egg in his mouth.

"how so?" Reaper took a bite from a pig in a blanket, it was just as delectable as he expected something made by Geno to be.

"we may be two pieces from the same soul, and we do even think and act a lot alike, but we still aren't the exact same person anymore. he didn't live through all the resets and loneliness i did. sometimes he just says or does something i don't expect." He took a bite from one of the turkey rolls as he spoke, mumbling around the food even as he absorbed it. "it makes sense we're not identical, but we still are so similar that sometimes that's easy to forget and it kind of throws me off."

Reaper picked up one of the pies, "that does make sense." Reaper was going to say more, but the rest was lost as he took a bite of the pie. Rather than the sweet, fruity filling he expected the thing oozed out thick gravy filled with vegetables and shredded chicken. It was delicious, but also so completely the opposite of what he expected that he choked in surprise.

"what? something wrong?" Geno looked worried, maybe even a little guilty.

Reaper coughed and shook his head, "no, no, it's fine, it's good! just… not what i was expecting."

Geno looked down at the half a pie still in Reaper's hand, then back up at Reaper, "pot pie?"

"well yeah, i thought it'd be regular pie."

The corners of Geno's mouth twitched up, "what makes a pie "regular"?"

"you know… sweet. fruity. a dessert."

"oh!" The twitched turned into a full on grin as Geno laughed, his pip twinkling. "i guess i should've warned you. those ones," he pointed to one container of pies, "are chicken pot pie. the ones with slits," he pointed to the other container of pies, "are dessert. the ones dusted with cinnamon are apple, the ones dusted with crystal sugar are cherry, and the ones without anything are chocolate cream."

Reaper nodded as he ate the rest of his pot pie. He quickly dusted his hands, then picked up one of the chocolate pies and held it up to Geno's teeth.

Geno sputtered, "wh-what're you doing?"

"feeding my cute little datefriend, what's it look like?"

"i made all this for you, idiot."

A truly decadent amount of food, even without factoring in that neither of them ever felt hunger in this timeless place. "and i intend to eat my fill," a tongue darted over his teeth to illustrate just what he intended to eat his fill of, "but that doesn't mean i can't feed you while i'm at it."

A blush spread across Geno's face, but he opened his mouth and took a bite of the offered pie. Reaper swooped in and kissed him, the taste of rich, dark, creamy chocolate still strong in his mouth.

Reaper pulled back with a grin, Geno's pip fuzzy around the edges again. "mmm… delicious," Reaper rumbled, going for that deep voice he knew Geno liked.

Geno's blush brightened further, casting a soft red glow on their clothes and faces. "of course, i told you we taste tested everything." He looked down, his smile growing wide and soft as the glow his blush gave off, "idiot."


	3. A Little First Meeting

Cider bustled about the kitchen, cycling between bubbling pots, their two slow cookers, the oven, and a whirring stand mixer. "shit, i think this is over mixed."

"it's fine," Geno said soothingly from where he was leaning against the far side of a counter. "it's just right on the boarder, still perfectly good."

"it's not fine! it's clearly over mixed!" Cider scraped the batter into the trash, then dropped the bowl into the sink with a loud clatter.

"is this what i was like?" Geno turned to Reaper, who was floating serenely just outside the kitchen.

"just about."

Cider pointedly ignored them as he quickly scrubbed the bowl.

"you're not even dating reaper," Geno said with a weary sigh, "why're you so nervous about meeting respite?"

"you know he's going to like you no matter what," Reaper added in his most soothing voice.

"i know! i know all that already!" Cider slammed the bowl back down and turned around to lean back against the sink, looking about ready to cry. "that's the problem, he's a… a…" Cider's fingers twisted up in his scarf. "some things are universal, and i bet one of them is your bro being too cool to ever think badly of anyone, just accepting whatever the world gives him even though it's not half of what he deserves. i just want to go through all the effort he deserves, even if he sets his standards too low."

Geno and Reaper both shortcut to either side of Cider, pulling him into a group hug. "hey, it's okay, we got all the time in the world to do that for respite."

"he wouldn't want you to stress like this, you know," Reaper added, pulling Geno into his arms as well.

"yeah, but that just makes me feel worse."

"so let me help you cook?" Geno asked hopefully.

Cider shook his head, "it has to be me!"

Reaper and Geno both sighed heavily. Geno patted Cider's back, "alright, have it your way. but before we let you get back to it take a few deep breaths for me." Geno took a few slow, measured breaths that Cider obediently followed along with. "good, now stop stressing so hard, that's when everything goes wrong."

"alright, alright. now get out of my kitchen."

"oh, so it's your kitchen now?" Geno teased as he and Reaper were herded out.

"i'm busy, so go spend a little quality time together you hopeless lovebirds." Cider gave them one last push out of the kitchen. "but don't go too far, i still need taste testers."

"sir yes sir," Reaper said with a sloppy salute.

Eventually the last dish was plated and nestled amongst the rest on the overflowing dinner table, a pair of tall candles already burning merrily away (a great thing about the Save Screen being how timeless it was, candles could burn without burning down). Respite was due to arrive in about half an hour. Cider frowned down at the spread, "maybe i can cut up a meat and cheese platter before he arrives…"

"nope, this is more than enough for just four people." Geno took Cider by the shoulders and gently steered him towards his room, "you need to change."

Cider looked down at the splatters of various colors and textures scattered over his _white_ hoodie and _white_ T-shirt. "yeah, okay, good point." He shortcut behind the perimeter of privacy screens around his bedroom (which mirrored the new perimeter of privacy screens around Geno and Reaper's bedroom and the one around the bathroom. Reaper had had to buy out all the privacy screens from four home improvement stores), leaving Geno behind.

With Cider gone for the moment, Geno went and cuddled up to Reaper's side on the couch.

"maybe you should help him pick some clothes out, i have the feeling he's going to stress about that too."

Geno groaned, "you're probably right."

"… but?"

"but it's so comfy right here. how about we give him ten minutes, then i'll go check on how hard he's overthinking."

"fair enough." Reaper happily pulled Geno closer, the little glitch practically sitting in his lap."

"i said ten minutes, reaper! plus your brother will be here shortly."

"i'm not doing anything," Reaper replied totally innocently as his hand slipped up Geno's shirt to grope his ribs.

"r-reaper!"

"what? i'm keeping it above the belt."

"still not helping," Geno groused.

"i can't help but notice you're not pulling away ~○:●*.✧✼"

"stop doing such weird things with your voice." And yet Geno just pressed more firmly into Reaper's side. "where'd you even find the coding for inserts anyway?"

"a god doesn't reveal his secrets ｡･:*:•̩̩͙ ･ﾟ+ ｡*•̩̩͙༓⁺˚.✮:✧*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*✧:✮.˚⁺༓•̩̩͙*｡ ･ﾟ+ •̩̩͙･:*:･｡."

"now you're just showing off."

"is it working?"

"maybe a little."

Reaper nuzzled into Geno's neck and let his voice drop into the deepest of octaves, so low it rumbled through Geno's bones, "**good.**"

"what're the two of you doing?"

Reaper looked up to see Cider standing a little ways away from the couch, glaring mightily at the both of them.

"awww… it hasn't even been the full ten minutes yet."

"was i supposed to give you two ten minutes?"

"no, no… we were giving you ten minutes." Geno hastily scooted away from Reaper, who graciously let him. "we thought you needed a chance to wind down a little before respite gets here."

"we do have a little more time, i could spice up my presentation…"

Geno sighed and snagged Cider's soul. He pulled him onto the couch, captured between Geno and Reaper. "you're going to sit down and relax a little."

Reaper happily cuddled the both of them close once Cider was trapped on the couch, Sanswiching their stressing roommate between them. Reaper thought it was quite nice, his arm over Cider's shoulders and wound behind Geno's back. He could get used to this.

"HELLO? I HAVE ARRIVED."

Cider hopped off the couch when he heard Respite's voice, then ran around the furniture, avoiding the new decorative privacy screens acting as a wall (they had been deemed too see-through for the bedrooms), and out to the patch of grass.

Geno and Reaper followed after at a more sedate pace, happy to let Cider and Respite meet on their own before getting involved. They rounded a privacy screen to find Cider looking tearfully up at Respite, who was wearing his favorite armor. Reaper squinted, was it freshly polished?

"HELLO! YOU MUST BE GENO JUNIOR, MY BROTHER HAS TOLD ME SO MUCH ABOUT YOU."

Like they were undead creatures from some ridiculous human horror film, Cider and Geno both slowly turned their heads to level absolutely livid glares directly at Reaper. A cold sweat broke out on Reaper's brow, he sure was lucky looks couldn't actually kill. "bro, i told you he picked out a nickname."

"OH! WHOOPSIE DOOPSIE, HOW SILLY OF ME. OF COURSE YOU TOLD ME HIS CHOSEN NICKNAME. AHEM, CIDER, IT'S VERY NICE TO MEET YOU."

Cider's gaze snapped back to Respite, his expression already soft. "i don't blame you at all." Like a switch had been flipped, the angry glare was back on Reaper, "i bet he's been using the wrong name this whole time."

"NOT THE _WHOLE_ TIME." Respite gave a nervous laugh, what a time for him to be a horrible liar.

"bro!" The sweat was dripping now, down into his rib cage and soaking into the cloak around the nape of his neck. "feast! there is one! that cider made. just for you."

"REALLY?" Respite sounded so surprised and hopeful.

"oh uh, yeah." Cider's face gained a soft, rosy blush. "i uh… wasn't sure what you like so i thought i'd just make a little of everything."

"WOWIE! THAT'S TRULY AMAZING."

Cider turned to lead the group to the dining room. "it's not, really. it's not half of what you deserve."

"WELL OF COURSE SOMEONE AS GREAT AS THE GREAT RESPITE DESERVES NOTHING BUT THE BEST, WHICH I'M SURE IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU MADE!"

Cider blushed harder, a shy, pleased smile spreading across his face. Reaper and Geno followed behind the pair, happy to let the two of them get to know each other.

"don't think you're off the hook," Geno murmured quietly.

Reaper sighed, of course he wasn't. Ah well, an angry Geno was still a fun Geno, and maybe this whole "meeting the family" thing meant he'd get to find out first hand how fun a mad Cider could be. Reaper could only hope.


	4. A Little Warm

Warning for this chapter getting a little spicy. Mostly it's discussions of sex, no actual sex will be in this version in keeping with fanfiction dot net's policies. There is also some mild swearing and a brief discussion of consent.

* * *

It had been a long, long day. In all honesty Reaper was pretty sure it was closer to three days (it was hard to keep track of time when every universe and timeline was on a different date, not to mention time zones). Several new AUs had popped into existence, each one with its own war between humans and monsters, plus it seemed like every single last fallen human had decided to go on a genocide run (now **there** was a Sisyphean task) all at once. Even though technically gods don't need sleep, Reaper felt exhausted and ready to fall into bed. He was glad to have finally reaped enough Souls to quiet the noise in his head and go home.

The moment he stepped into their home a familiar sweet scent hit him, and hit him hard. Far harder than it should be able to for only being gone maybe three days. "geno?"

"r-reaper!"

That definitely sounded needy. "geno, why didn't you text me?" He rounded into the living room to find Geno and Cider wrapped up in each other's arms, legs tangled over laps and around waists, both sporting faint blushes and the slightly brighter glow to their Souls that heralded the start of preheat.

"it just barely started. besides, it's not so bad with cider here."

"heats suck," Cider murmured as he snuggled somehow deeper into Geno's hold. One of Geno's hands fluttered along Cider's arm, like he couldn't decide between clinging to Cider or reaching for Reaper.

"c'mere, the both of you," Reaper said while trying to hide his laugh. He drifted close enough to pull the pair into his arms, they both latched on like koalas. Little, red, glitching, skeleton koalas. They squirmed and shifted, arms flung over his shoulders or each others', legs wrapped around ribs and waists and hips, Geno ripped off the little clasp and rope that kept the top of Reaper's robe closed and shoved his whole arm inside, Cider tentatively put a hand on Reaper's partially exposed clavicle, then the pair were snuggling their skulls onto his shoulder and the crook of his neck with happy little murmurs. Reaper smiled down at Cider's hesitance, "it's alright, i know bone on bone contact is best."

Cider made a garbled little noise and hid his face in Reaper's neck, adorable. Geno sighed happily and snuggled in, Reaper decided to turn and sit down on the couch with his two armfuls of glitchy, touch starved skeleton. Reaper let out a happy sigh of his own once the three of them were settled in comfortably. Geno may hate preheats (far less now that he had Reaper to take care of him like he deserves), but Reaper found them to be relaxing. He got to just sit around with his favorite person in the whole multiverse and do nothing but cuddle for a while.

Speaking of favorite person, he should let Respite know what's going on. It took a bit of digging, some grumbling from Geno, and an interesting balancing act of typing out a message without letting either one go, but Reaper managed to get the message typed out and his phone moved to the nearby coffee table. Then he got to just sit back and relax for a while. Later he'd have to get up and gather all the supplies they'd need once the preheat transitioned into a full on heat and Geno's clothes became too uncomfortable to keep wearing. Geno and Cider both, Reaper should say.

Reaper stiffened, Cider was in preheat too. Which meant that he was going to go into heat right alongside Geno, but Reaper wasn't dating Cider (yet). Reaper cursed internally, what should they do? Would Cider want Reaper to help him through it? No wait, they hadn't discussed it before and even though his heat hadn't actually started yet Cider's inhibition would already be compromised. No, Reaper absolutely would not do anything to hurt Cider's or Geno's trust. He would be a gentleman and let Cider take care of himself. While Reaper and Geno were just on the other side of their "house."

Yeah, no. Even in someplace with actual walls that was not really a good idea. The best they could hope for was enough space between them for more than just the illusion of privacy, so a lot of space. Enough that they couldn't even see the house anymore, like at one of their previous date spots. Yeah, there were a few sprinkled around, that should work. He just needed to gather up all the supplies they would need and take Geno to one of those spots.

Reaper started compiling a list of all the things they would need as he relaxed back into the couch. Snacks and drinks, enough for all three of them. What else? Perhaps some blankets and pillows depending on which spot Geno chose, Cider was staying here so his bed should be plenty. Maybe Reaper should pack a few choice toys while he was at it, Geno did like some of their more risque games while he was in heat. Would Cider want any too? Should he ask or would it be weird to offer some of their toys to his boyfriend's time shenaniganned duplicate? No wait, no matter how thoroughly they'd been washed, offering used toys to anyone was weird!

Something hard was poking Reaper's cheek. "there's smoke coming out of your ears, stop thinking so hard."

"we don't even have ears," Reaper replied to Geno with a laugh.

"well stop anyway, you're slacking on the cuddling. stop thinking and get to work."

"what're you talking about? he's doing great." Cider nuzzled Reaper's shoulder with a contented sigh.

Reaper smirked as he started rubbing up and down his two glitches' spines through their hoodies. Cider sputtered and stiffened in surprise, then seemed to melt into Reaper's hold with a contented sigh. His fingers flexed where they clung to Reaper's clavicle, it rather reminded Reaper of a cat kneading in happiness.

"mmmm… yeah… don't stop," Geno all but purred.

"i am going to have to stop eventually to get everything set up for us."

"later," Geno groused, then went back to nuzzling happily into Reaper's neck.

"sir, yes, sir," Reaper said jokingly, not letting their banter interrupt his slow, firm strokes up and down their backs. Peace fell on the three of them, a silence born of contentedness but also heavy as the calm before the storm. A sexy, sexy storm that wore a white hoodie and had a grumpy face and turned into the cutest little desperate sub when he was in heat.

Reaper relaxed and let the silence wash over them. It was so quiet he could faintly hear the sound of Geno's and Cider's glitches under the sound of their breathing. It was the usual bubbly sound that reminded Reaper of those colorful phone games. He pressed more firmly into Cider's and Geno's backs, to Reaper's delight the sound of Geno's glitches changed from bubbles to high pitched beeps and chirps. Then the chirps grew more frequent and went from mono to stereo.

Holy shit, Cider was glitching happily too! Reaper couldn't help grinning to himself as he settled deeper into the couch, hugging the two preheat monsters as close as monsterly possible. Once as settled as he could possibly get, Reaper let his skull roll to rest on top of Geno's, content to sit and listen to his and Cider's contentment until it was time to get the show on the road.

* * *

Geno was starting to get pretty squirmy. Cider too, even if less so. Reaper could ignore it for a bit longer, but he was pretty sure that would be a bad idea when he had twice as much getting ready to do. "you two hungry?"

"nuoooooooo…"

"uh, a little."

"nwuoooooooooooooooooooooo…"

"geno," Reaper lightly chided.

"i don't wanna get up," Geno admitted grumpily.

"and you don't have to." Reaper held them both a little tighter as he stood and drifted into the kitchen. This wasn't his first heat rodeo, after all, he knew what he was doing. He could easily switch Geno to a one armed hold and use his free hand to gather everything they would need.

The one armed hold Geno was already in. Because Cider was in his other arm.

"uuuuuuuuuuuuh…" Reaper stared at the fridge handle, then down to the two glitches in his arms.

Cider clung all the harder, "don't you dare let go."

Huh, not the one Reaper had expected to protest. "just while i gather supplies."

"nuh uh." Okay, there was Geno's expected protest.

"you can support yourselves, just hold on while i grab us some snacks."

"nope."

"well you two kept each other company just fine, i'll just set the both of you down together…"

There was a mix of static, pops, hissing, and a stuttering, high pitched whine along with their protests.

"then keep holding on, but i need my hands."

"ugh! fine." Geno and Cider both squirmed until they had Reaper in a (heh) death grip, but Reaper would survive.

He started humming a jaunty tune as he opened the fridge and began pulling everything out. Some of it was even finger foods, nice! And oh! A little four pack of coffee in those weirdly tall, slim cans, Reaper had forgotten those were in there. Those would be useful, he set them on the counter next to everything else. Now he just needed to separate everything out into portions. Let's see, did they have any little baggies or containers left over from his last fast food run? No? What else? He could just use the containers they were already in, but that wouldn't give them a nice little variety. Maybe plates? They had plates, it would take doing some extra trips but it would work. Reaper added a little bounce and sway to his step as he hummed his way over to the cupboard with the plates in it.

"you sure are cheerful."

"i'm just thinking of all the things i'm gonna do to you once your heat hits," Reaper purred as he nuzzled into Cider's skull.

Wait, Cider's skull? Shit.

"uuuuuuuuh…"

"did you just?" Geno asked with a laugh.

"shit." Reaper tried to jump away from Cider, which did about as much good as you would think jumping away from a veritable koala already clinging to you would do. "sorry, cider. i uh… shit, i got you two messed up." He felt mana rush to his face, he must be glowing with it.

"clearly." Cider was blushing bright red under his glitches, the other half of his face hidden in Reaper's shoulder. The good half, unfortunately, so Reaper had no idea what his expression was.

"i'm sorry, i'm so, so sorry! i was trying so hard not to mix you two up!"

"you've done a pretty stellar job so far, this is the first time it's ever happened." Geno gently pat Reaper's sternum.

"and uh… i mean… if you really want i uh…"

"no." Reaper put a hand up, though with Geno clinging to him he couldn't actually cover Cider's mouth even if he wanted to. "no, it's not about what i want. more than that: it's about consent, which you didn't give before this started. so no, i won't be doing anything to you once your heat starts. and uh, geno? wanna pick where we go? one of our date spots, i want to give cider and us some privacy."

"i'll think about it," Geno said, though he was looking sternly at Cider the whole time. Then his head tilted at an odd angle, "not the beach though, i don't want sand in my joints again."

Reaper laughed at that, "reasonable." He started humming again as he went back to dividing up their goodies between them.

Cider nuzzled into Reaper's neck, the most intimate he'd been since this whole thing started, "thanks."

"you're welcome," Reaper replied with a gentle smile.

"told ya," Geno said smugly.

"told him what?" Reaper asked.

"later, i want one of those cookies right now."

"oh! me too." Cider and Geno both spared a hand to make grabby motions at the platter of cookies sitting in the middle of the dinner table, covered by a tea towel for some reason.

Reaper laughed but obligingly pulled the platter closer and the towel off, letting his two glitches stuff a handful of cookies each into their mouths. He couldn't help the fond smile that spread across his face. Soon (hopefully) they would both actually be his, his two little darling Sans Genocide Gasters. What a day that would be.


	5. A (not so) Little Change

Reaper clenched his hands so tightly if he had flesh he was sure he'd be bleeding. "you're sure you're ready?"

"Yes, my friend. I assure you I am well prepared for this. Your friends are in good hands," Life replied as she smiled gently down on Reaper. "You know there is no place in all of creation safer and more suited to our purpose than my garden."

Reaper drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "yeah, i know. you're right. heh, you're always right." Reaper grinned nervously up at his oldest friend, "alright, i'm going now."

"I will not move even an inch," Life promised with another soft, reassuring smile.

Reaper nodded, then stepped into the Save Screen. Into their living room, specifically, where Geno and Cider both stood with their bodies pressed against each other, hands tangled together, skulls angled down to hide whatever they were discussing too quietly for Reaper to hear. "life's ready."

Both glitches looked up, but it was Cider that stepped forward. "alright, i'm ready."

Reaper looked back and forth between them, "cider?" He would think Geno would want to go first, he was the one who'd been stuck here longer.

"we talked about it," Cider started.

"and ended up flipping a coin," Geno cut in.

A lie. Reaper could tell by the way Geno stared at him as if he could glare Reaper into believing it. Reaper furrowed his brow and was about to ask what Geno was lying about, but instead shook his head. Life was waiting, this was a delicate enough procedure without unnecessary delays. He reached for Cider, then pulled his hand back. Most gods were able to move quickly, flitting wherever they were needed faster than mortal eye could hope to ever follow, but it still required the god to be touching whatever or whoever they wanted to bring with them. If he were touching Cider when they left this place, he'd likely dust before Life even had a chance to lift a finger. "here, stand beside me." Reaper wasn't most gods, he had something else entirely at his disposal: shortcuts. Those didn't require touch.

Cider moved into the spot Reaper had pointed at, "alright, i'm ready."

Reaper nodded, then between one step and the next they were in Life's garden. Cider barely had time to gasp before he was in Life's arms, surrounded by the warm glow of healing magic.

Life was a powerful healer, Reaper reminded himself as a small eternity slowly ticked by. Probably the most powerful healer ever, he added on as time slowly dragged on and yet nothing seemed to change. Then Life's intense grimace of concentration eased into a pleased smile and the gaping hole in Cider's skull (no longer hidden by glitches) slowly grew smaller and smaller. Reaper breathed a sigh of relief as the hole closed up and the healing glow faded.

Life stood leaning over Cider, one hand at his back while the other was held open in front of him, both of Cider's tiny hands clinging to her like a (heh) lifeline. Cider was breathing heavily and blinking wildly. Then he looked up and Reaper finally got his first look at Cider's new face, the whole right side looked like wax that had melted and cooled again. The affect wasn't helped by his eye, which had healed drooping half closed, the bottom rim even lower than his good eye, leaving it looking as if his whole eye had slid down his face.

"Rest now, my child." Life picked up Cider as she spoke, then set him down on a fallen tree. "I am sure this is quite the change for you, but we have your other half to help next." Life's expression shifted to contemplative as she put a finger to her chin and tilted her head slightly, "Your other third?"

"heh, we've just been calling each other twins, it's easier to deal with."

"Very well then, we must do this once more for your twin. Sans," Life turned to Reaper, "I am ready."

"right." Reaper stepped back into the Save Screen. Geno was right where he'd left him, looking so small and anxious. He perked up when he noticed Reaper had arrived, then drooped. "is he…"

"cider's fine, it worked."

"that's… that's good." A tear welled up in Geno's eye as he let out a shuddering breath, "that's really good."

Reaper pulled Geno into a hug, tucking the smaller's face into the crook of his neck as he hugged him close. "it worked, he's alive and well and soon you will be too. you're going to be free, you'll get to see the surface and the whole of the multiverse and never, ever have to come back here ever again."

Geno sobbed and clung to Reaper all the tighter, Reaper started running a soothing hand up and down Geno's spine while murmuring quiet nonsense into his acoustic canal. It seemed the tears were just a quick burst, a flurry of sobs that started to ebb shortly after beginning. Reaper was about to ask Geno if he was ready to go when his phone played a cheery little tune. That was Life's ringtone. He quickly pulled his phone out of his inventory with one hand while he continued to pet Geno's spine with the other.

The LIFE of the party

*Is everything alright, my friend? You are taking quite a while to return with Geno.

*yeah sall good  
sorry  
geno got a lil emotional

*Oh dear, is he well?

*yeah hes better now  
well be thr shorty

*I will be waiting.

With that he dropped his phone back into his inventory and gave Geno an extra little squeeze. "that was life, you ready to go meet her?"

"yeah, sure," Geno gave a watery laugh, "all set."

Reaper took a quick shortcut into the kitchen and grabbed up the first tea towel in reach, he held it up to Geno's face. Geno quickly wiped down his face and blew his nose. Then they were in the bedroom and Geno tossed the used towel towards the laundry basket.

"okay, all set for real this time."

Reaper gently pushed Geno away from him. Once they weren't touching anymore he turned to face the same direction as him. "alright, here we go."

Geno nodded, then between one step and the next they were in Life's garden. Reaper pulled up his hood and clung to it anxiously as he breathlessly watched Life work her magic. It seemed to take both far, far longer than it had with Cider and be over in an instant. The healing magic faded and Life was holding Geno up just as she had Cider as she smiled down at him. Geno turned to find Reaper and smiled wide. His right eye looked as if it were caught in an eternal, melted wink.

"reaper," Geno called happily and reached towards him.

Reaper shortcut a couple paces back, well out of reach.

Geno had just enough time to look hurt before Cider was hugging Geno. "look at all this! i've never seen so much greenery all in one place in my whole life."

"yeah," Geno agreed. He looked around the garden again, then up at the endless blue sky with a herd of white, fluffy clouds drifting lazily overhead. "i've never seen that shade of blue before."

Cider looked up, just as transfixed as Geno. "yeah, me neither."

Life picked them both up in a hug, "Congratulations to the both of you!"

Faint, rosy blushes lit both the glitches' cheek bones. No, not glitches anymore.

"thanks, life."

"And now what will the two of you do?"

"oh uh…" Geno and Cider turned to look at each other, then both stared in shock. "whoa, is that what i look like now?" Both reached tentatively for each others' faces.

"Not quite, you are no longer identical." Life smiled down at them as the two inspected each others' faces, then their own. "How do you feel? I hope neither of you is in any pain."

"no! uh, no, not at all."

"i feel better than i have in ages," Geno said with a grin. "but i also feel like i could sleep for a year."

"Ah, that is to be expected. Healing can be quite taxing on both the healer and the injured. The worse the injury, the more taxing the healing. You were both on the brink of Death," Life threw a wink Reaper's way, "it would be best if you rested for now. You are both quite welcome to rest here, I can make you a charming nest to sleep in." Life turned and held up her arms as if she were about to conduct an invisible orchestra lurking under the foliage around the edge of her garden.

Cider and Geno looked around the garden (full of bird song, animals rustling through the underbrush, and trees whispering overhead with every stray breeze) and shook their heads. "no offense, but it's really uh…"

"it's kinda noisier than we're used to."

"That is quite alright, I understand even something I would consider peaceful can be overwhelming after what you two have become used to. It would be better not to go back to that timeless place, but if it is where you would be most comfortable then that is where you shall go." She leaned down and pulled Geno and Cider into yet another hug. "Rest well, my new friends. And remember, you are welcome here any time." She stood and grinned mischievously at them, "Reaper has precious little free time, and he would rather spend it in your company than mine. I demand you two come keep me company in his place."

Reaper smiled sadly at Life's teasing. He had a feeling that now they were alive again, now that the timers every mortal had were slowly ticking away again, that he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with his darlings as he had before.

"Reaper, come here and help these two get back home." Life beckoned Reaper closer. He obligingly drifted into reach, but was careful to keep a small buffer of distance between them.

"what? can't get home on your own?"

"we're not sure if we can shortcut between worlds," Geno admitted.

"plus we got one last thing to test."

"huh?" Reaper looked at Cider in confusion, giving Cider just enough time to latch onto Reaper and pull him closer. Reaper was so surprised that all he could do was yelp in shock. Cider leaned up and closed his eye as their teeth met in a hard kiss that echoed sharply through the garden. Reaper panicked and pushed Cider away, "cider! what are… you're not dead." He looked down at the mortal monster with his robed clenched tightly in his fist, Reaper's hands on his shoulders in a vain attempt to put distance back between them. He wasn't dust.

"huh, i'm really not. guess dt's a hell of a drug." Cider grabbed Reaper and pulled him back into another, slightly gentler kiss.

Geno latched onto Reaper as well, jostling Cider until they were both held in Reaper's arms. Geno insisted on getting a kiss of his own, then Cider pulled him back into another kiss. By the time the pair had had enough of trading him off for kisses, Reaper was panting like he'd just run a marathon. He stared down at the both of them in wonder, then his gaze shifted over to blink slowly at Cider. Cider blushed and hid his face in a hand, then peeked back up at Reaper shyly.

"cider, are you… does this mean… are you really okay with this?"

Cider nodded, "if you are. i mean, i know you've been pretty obvious about wanting me too, but if that was all just a joke we don't have to…" Cider trailed off nervously.

Reaper whooped and picked the twins up to spin them around. He held both his darling little datefriends close and peppered their adorable melted skulls with kisses. "i'm more than okay with this!" Perhaps it was greedy of him to accept, to keep them both after they finally had the whole multiverse opened to them, but Reaper wasn't about to let either of his datefriends go now that he had them. He held them tighter again and nuzzled their skulls. Cider and Geno both pulled him down into a kiss, magic sparked where the three's teeth met, an intoxicating mix of red and blue that he was sure he'd never get tired of.


	6. Best Day Ever

There was a cough behind them. Reaper turned, Cider and Geno still in his arms, to see Life watching them with an amused smile spread blatantly across her face. Reaper grinned right back at her, "life! look, i got my matched set!"

The twins both grumbled complaints at being called that, but Reaper was too happy to care. Plus it didn't escape his notice that neither one let go or tried to get out of his hold.

"I can see that, my friend." She walked closer as she spoke, then pulled the trio into her arms for the biggest hug Reaper had ever been part of. "Congratulations!"

"wait, don't!" Geno and Cider both looked panicked, then looked up at Life with wonder, "you didn't dust."

"Of course not, my children. Did you really believe two mortal beings would be able to withstand the touch of Death but another god would not?"

"when you put it that way," Geno grumbled as he looked down, abashed.

"I will admit Reaper's touch is uncomfortable due to the nature of our powers. But gods are not part of the cycle of Life and Death, it will take more than his mere touch to kill even the most minor of gods."

"that's a relief."

"tor," Reaper said, looking between his two datefriends (two! He had not just one but two adorable datefriends) and his oldest friend, "how? i mean," he squinted at the timers attached to the twins' souls, "they're still mortal, i think. what did you do?"

"Perhaps it is the garden, you have no power here."

All three skeletons looked down at Reaper's feet, where a ring of brown, wilted grass was slowly growing outward.

Life gave a light cough, "Well, that grass is not **dead** is it? How do the two of you feel?"

They both shrugged. "the same, i guess. still tired," Cider added before a great yawn cracked his jaw. It spread to Geno next.

"It has been a tiring day," Life agreed with another amused smile. Reaper swore it was more of a smirk, really. "You two should rest. But as I said, it would be better if you did not return to the Save Screen for now."

"where else would i take them? all our stuff's there."

"Sans Reaper Death the elder," Life said exasperatedly, "do you not have a house with your brother in the godly realm?"

"it's more his house than mine at this point, i moved into the save screen with geno ages ago."

"And did you not inform him of what you had planned for today?"

"of course i told him."

"You really believe Respite would not have prepared your shared home for the three of you?"

"oh."

"And at the very least it is worth a visit to let him know how things went, is it not?"

"yeah, you're right."

"As I often am," Life said with what was definitely a smirk. "Now get going you three. Have a safe journey, and do come back to visit." Life gave them all one last hug, then stepped back.

Cider and Geno looked at each other, a flurry of expressions flashed across their faces faster than Reaper could interpret them. It had only been such a short time since Cider crashed into their lives, but it seemed like the first thing he and Geno had done was figure out a way to communicate silently. Then the pair squirmed out of Reaper's arms and stood to either side, hands shoved in hoodie pockets.

"thanks, life."

"we'll be sure to visit."

Life smiled gently and waved.

They stepped into Respite's living room. Reaper supposed technically it was still his home too, some things had just never made it into the Save Screen. But he hadn't _lived_ there in quite some time.

Cider's hand found its way into Reaper's. He looked down at his new datefriend with a wide smile, then noticed that the bright red mana usually leaking from Cider's grin had dried. Geno's hand found Reaper's next, Reaper turned his smile on Geno, "let's go find respite."

"we've never been here before, dork, you gotta lead the way."

"sure. he's probably upstairs." Keeping their hands in his, Reaper led his datemates up the stairs, calling out for Respite as they went.

Respite popped out of the room Reaper recognized as his old room. "OH! IT WORKED!" Respite clapped his hands in excitement, then his gaze dropped down to where their hands were still clasped. His sockets grew huge, "GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY! DOES THIS MEAN WHAT I THINK IT MEANS?"

Reaper held up both his datemates' hands, "we're a trio!"

Respite rushed over to pick the twins up and twirl them around. "OH THIS IS WONDERFUL!" He stopped and held them out so he could look down at them, "AND HOW DID IT GO WITH LIFE? NO WAIT, CLEARLY IT WENT WELL. YOU'RE NOT EVEN HIDING YOUR EYES ANYMORE! THOUGH I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT SHE'D DO MORE FOR YOUR SOULS, IT SEEMS A LITTLE IRRESPONSIBLE TO LEAVE THEM AS MERE FRAGMENTS. WELL, NO MATTER! YOU'RE HERE AND YOU'RE RELATIVELY HEALTHY. SO BROTHER, SINCE THEY AREN'T STUCK IN THAT DREARY PLACE LEST THEY DIE ANYMORE, YOU ARE OF COURSE MOVING BACK IN."

"only if you're okay with it. and them too, of course."

"DON'T BE SILLY! I'M MORE THAN JUST "OKAY" WITH IT! REALLY, AS IF I WOULDN'T BE HAPPY TO HAVE MY ONLY BROTHER BACK HOME WITH ME," Reaper grumbled with a frown. Then his attention shifted back to the twins still in his arms and his expression brightened, "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE TWO OF YOU? DO YOU WANT TO LIVE HERE?"

"sure, no place else i'd rather lay my head."

"wouldn't dream of living anywhere else."

"WERE THOSE PUNS?"

The answer was a pair of wide, jaw cracking yawns. Cider's good eye was drooping as much as his melted one.

"life said healing takes a lot out of mortals."

"OH, I SUPPOSE THAT MAKES SENSE? MORTALS DO NEED AN AWFUL LOT OF SLEEP, IT SEEMS." He squinted down at them, "BUT I THINK YOU BOTH NEED A QUICK WASH UP BEFORE BEING PUT TO BED." And just like that Respite was marching towards the bathroom, one of Reaper's datemates under each arm. "BROTHER, GET THE BED READY WHILE I CLEAN THEM UP."

"sure thing, bro." Reaper gave them a wave, then stepped into his old room. It was pretty empty, all the junk he'd left behind save for one trunk and his old bed had been cleaned out. He frowned at the bed in the corner, it was old fashioned and dumpy even by his standards, nothing more than a worn old pallet. It certainly wasn't big enough for two monsters nor was it worthy of his precious datemates. He quickly kicked the ratty old thing through a shortcut to some random place. Then with a shortcut and liberal use of gravity magic he brought his and Geno's bed from the Save Screen into the room.

Well that was a disaster! The thing took up about half the room, maybe more. It definitely didn't belong shoved into the corner like that. They'd have to do something about the bed to bedroom ratio later, for now he could at least try to get the thing into a decent position.

"BROTHER! COME HERE A MINUTE, PLEASE!"

Reaper stood outside the bathroom door, "yeah bro?"

The door swung wildly open, just past Respite he could see Geno and Cider sitting on the edge of their claw foot tub, down to just their shirts and shorts. "THESE CLOTHES WON'T DO! THEY'RE STICKY WITH MANA!" Respite motioned angrily to the matched slashes across their shirts.

"oh, right. i'll be right back." Reaper popped into his Save Screen bedroom and made a beeline for the pair of dressers. Geno's was… pretty empty. All it really had were some lingerie, toys, and his sock collection. All of which were stained with still fresh, bright red mana. Right, since this was a timeless place and Geno never really stopped bleeding he never really bothered with changing his clothes or even washing what he had. Cider was likely the same. Come to think of it, even though Reaper had bought him his own dresser and a wardrobe he couldn't remember ever actually buying Cider anything to put in them. Well crap, he was a terrible datemate. That would have to be fixed… soon. Right now he had more pressing matters.

Reaper moved to his own dresser and started rifling through it. Again, it was mostly lingerie and toys, he didn't even have a sock collection like most Sanses. All he found was one old, worn soft, faded from black to dark gray, over sized T-shirt and an old pair of sweatpants. Well that made sense, he kept his clothes in the wardrobe. The wardrobe that seemed to only be full of black ragged robe after black ragged robe with only the occasional pair of matching black ragged pants for variety. He got all the way to the back where he found a knit sweater with "Death the halls" written across it with cheery holiday decorations around the whole thing. Well it would have to do. He took the meager pile of clothes to the bathroom and knocked on the door.

"THERE YOU ARE!" Respite took the clothes and plopped them on the counter next to the sink. "ALRIGHT, ONCE YOU TO HAVE FINISHED WASHING UP AND CHANGING WE'LL GET YOU RIGHT INTO BED. GO AHEAD AND JUST LEAVE THE OLD ONES HERE, I'LL TAKE CARE OF THEM." Without waiting for a response Respite stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door. Then he hustled reaper into his (their?) bedroom. "OUR DEATHLY TOUCH DOESN'T AFFECT THEM!"

"yeah, no idea what life did to make that happen, but i'm not complaining."

"I SHALL HAVE TO SEND HER A THANK YOU CARD, POSSIBLY A GIFT OF SOME KIND. WHAT DO YOU SEND TO A GODDESS THAT LITERALLY LIVES IN A GARDEN? SURELY A FRUIT BASKET OR A BOUQUET WOULD BE COMPLETELY REDUNDANT. YOU KNOW HER BETTER THAN I, DOES SHE ENJOY CHEESE? PERHAPS WITH SOME CURED MEATS?"

Reaper shrugged, "just so long as there's no tea. maybe a wine bottle? isn't cheese supposed to go with wine? i know she's classy enough for that sort of thing.

Respite's eye sockets glittered as he practically beamed his joy at Reaper, "FOR ONCE YOU ACTUALLY HAVE SOMETHING HELPFUL TO SAY! I'M SO GLAD TO SEE HAVING A SECOND DATEMATE HAS ALREADY IMPROVED YOUR LAZY WAYS EVEN MORE." He turned and motioned at the bed, still awkwardly stuffed in the room's corner, "WHY JUST LOOK AT THIS! I EXPECTED YOU TO JUST THROW BLANKETS AND PILLOWS AT THAT MUSTY OLD STRAW TICK YOU CALLED A BED, BUT INSTEAD YOU REPLACED IT WITH A REAL BED."

"it's just our bed from the save screen. i didn't even do any work to get it here, just used a shortcut."

"AND THAT IS STILL MORE EFFORT THAN I EXPECTED, WELL DONE." Respite clapped Reaper on the back hard enough he nearly fell flat on his face. "THOUGH IT DOES SEEM RATHER… LARGE. FOR THIS ROOM."

"yeah, it might be time to make some changes. but that'll have to wait until later, for now i just want to figure out a place to leave the bed that'll work for tonight."

"THAT'S EASY ENOUGH, IF WE MOVE THAT OLD CHEST YOU LEFT BEHIND TO THAT CORNER THERE, WE CAN PUT THE BED AGAINST THAT WALL AND HAVE JUST ENOUGH ROOM TO ACTUALLY MANEUVER AROUND THE ROOM. THOUGH I DON'T SEE WHY WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE IT AS IS, ALL THREE OF YOU CAN SHORTCUT."

"heh, that's true. but we're gonna need to bring all our furniture and stuff from the save screen in at some point."

"AS YOU SAID, THIS IS ONLY FOR THE SHORT TERM. I'M SURE ONCE I SET MY MIND TO IT I WILL FIND A SOLUTION. NO, THE BEST SOLUTION!"

"uh… reaper? respite?"

"OH! THAT SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE FINISHED. GO FETCH YOUR TWO DATEMATES AND I'LL GET THINGS SETTLED HERE."

"sure thing, bro." Reaper shortcut to just outside the bathroom, Geno and Cider were both standing in the doorway, leaning heavily on it as they looked down the hallway. They looked adorable, like a pair of sleepy kittens refusing to lay down for a nap. The fact they were both swimming in their borrowed clothes didn't help matters.

It was like the fact they were wearing **his** clothes hit Reaper upside the head and left him reeling. He just stood and stared at them, Geno in the Gyftmas sweater and sweatpants (which had to be rolled up to keep him from tripping over them, so cute!), and Cider drowning in the T-shirt so badly it was slipping from one shoulder, though the scarf hid most of said shoulder from sight, the bottom hem of the T-shirt went all the way down to his knees.

The two stumbling as they tried to walk towards him snapped Reaper out of his daze. He quickly caught them both, the last thing they needed was another trip to Life's garden for another healing round after they just left. They latched onto his arms, Reaper couldn't stop the indulgent smile he knew was all over his face. "alright you two, bed's right this way."

By leaning on Reaper and going slow, the twins managed to make it safely into the bedroom. Respite had managed to not only get the bed into place but also get it neatly made in the short time Reaper had been gone. He was just turning down the blankets when they walked in. "YOU TWO LOOK SO MUCH BETTER, LESS LIKE YOU'D JUST BEEN ON THE BRINK OF… WELL… US." He motioned to the bed, though with the way it took up half the room he needn't have bothered. "THE BED'S ALL READY, JUST CLIMB IN AND WE'LL LET YOU REST."

The bed frame had been specially ordered, it was short enough for any Sans (save maybe a bitty) to get in and out of easily, yet half asleep as they already were Reaper wasn't sure the twins could handle even that on their own. "how about i just…" Reaper shortcut the three of them onto the bed.

"yeah, that works," Cider slurred as he collapsed into bed, still clinging to Reaper. Geno did the same.

"uh… guys?" Reaper asked as he was bodily pulled down onto the bed with his datemates. Rather than respond, the twins just grunted and squirmed until they were both comfortably cuddled up on either side of Reaper, arms thrown over his ribs. They let him flip over so he was face up at least, but when he tried to squirm from their grasps both growled. "i uh… i'm trapped?"

"WELL YOU THREE HAVE A GOOD NAP," Respite said with a particularly smug smile as he tucked the three of them in. "FOR JUST TODAY BROTHER, I'M GIVING YOU PERMISSION TO BE LAZY. I'LL TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING ELSE, YOU JUST TAKE CARE OF YOUR DATEMATES. WINK!"

"thanks, bro, you're the best."

"OF COURSE I AM, NYEH HEH HEH!" With that Respite shut the door and was gone.

Reaper settled in, happy to hold his datemates (both of them! stars, he was so lucky) close while they got some much deserved rest. He just watched their ribs rise and fall for a while, taking the time to really look at their newly healed faces. How peaceful they looked without the gaping holes in their skulls, how serene their faces with a dribble of sleep drool rather than stark red mana. He hoped the lack of blood meant they weren't in pain anymore. He hoped the timers that strangely didn't seem to be counting down meant they had long lives ahead of them. Still, for now they were here, alive and safe and warm in his arms. He dropped a kiss on top of each skull and whispered, "best day ever," to them.

Perhaps Respite had a point about that gift basket, he should get Life one too.


	7. A Little More Change

When Cider and Geno woke they were both famished. Unfortunately there wasn't much to eat in the Death brothers' kitchen, but there was plenty still sitting around in the Save Screen kitchen. It only took three trips to grab enough to sate Reaper's two very hungry datemates (two datemates! He was still excited about that). He wasn't even sure they were actually full, they both kept falling face first into their plates so Reaper moved them both back to bed and tucked them in. It was adorable how they curled up around each other, his cute little kittens. His!

But the pressure of too many dead Souls calling out to him was getting to be too much. For all that he'd rather crawl back into bed with his darlings he had a job to do that wouldn't let him ignore it. Reluctantly Reaper went downstairs, he should at least move the dirty dishes to the sink, right? It wasn't procrastination if it was productive!

Respite was standing in the kitchen, hands on hips as he glared down at the dirty dishes and crumbs scattered over the table. "REALLY NOW!"

"hey bro, sorry about the mess. seems healing makes mortals both tired and really hungry."

Respite sighed, "WELL IF THAT'S WHAT IT IS LIKE FOR MORTALS THEN I SUPPOSE THERE'S NOTHING TO BE DONE ABOUT IT. ASIDE FROM CLEANING THIS UP, OF COURSE."

"yeah, guess so."

Respite made the most outraged, scandalized noise when Reaper dumped the whole pile of plates into the sink. It was kind of funny watching him angrily pull them out and set them aside so he could fill the sink with water. Reaper just scooted the trash can over and half heartedly swept the crumbs in. A lot missed and ended up on the floor but eh… someone would sweep the floor sooner or later.

"THERE'S EVEN STILL PERFECTLY EDIBLE FOOD ON THIS PLATE," Respite grumbled as he stole the trash can to drop said perfectly edible food into.

"hey bro, what'd you do with my datemates' clothes?"

"I THREW THEM OUT."

"you what?"

"SA- REAPER! THERE WAS A GIANT, RAGGED CUT ACROSS THEM THAT HAD YOUR DATEMATES' MANA SOAKED INTO THEM."

"bro, those were their only clothes!"

"WELL, YOU SHOULD FIX THAT."

"… huh, i can do that, can't i?"

Respite sighed and rolled his eyes, "YES, YOU MOST CERTAINLY CAN."

"did you at least save their shorts? those didn't have cuts and are black so any possible stains won't show. and cider doesn't have any pants right now, so unless you want him to wander around the house pantsless until i get back…"

"YES, I SAVED THEIR SHORTS. THEY'RE IN THE WASH AND WILL BE DONE SHORTLY."

Reaper snickered.

Respite gave him the side eye, "NOW GO GET YOUR DATEMATES SOME PROPER CLOTHES."

"ok." Reaper paused, then cleared his throat, "i might be a while. work, you know."

"I DO NEED TO GO DOWN INTO THE UNDERWORLD SOON, IT'S GOTTEN A BIT ROWDY DOWN THERE."

"yeah, so i might be a while. oh!" Reaper quickly popped back into the Save Screen, gathered up what little food was left, then shortcut back to dump it on the kitchen table. It was monster food, it'd be fine. "there, in case my ⁺✩*•̩̩͙ •̩̩͙*˚datemates˚*•̩̩͙ •̩̩͙*˚✩⁺ are hungry when they wake up."

"THAT'S VERY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU."

"heh, thanks."

* * *

"so i was able to shortcut to the save screen, back to the bathroom, over to life's garden, then back here," Geno said as he collapsed on the couch.

Cider reappeared at Reaper's side, "got to life's garden, the save screen, back to life's garden, the bedroom, then down here."

Reaper nodded, "okay, life's garden is part of this universe, and the save screen is its own weird thing. we can figure out if you guys can get to other universes when we go on our first shopping trip. "

They both groaned, Cider flopped down onto the couch next to Geno. "we just did sooooooooo much work, do we haaaaaaaaave to go shopping right now?" he whined. They were both wearing Reaper's clothes again. Rather than buying his datemates clothes, he'd decided to just expand his own wardrobe. Reaper now had several outfits of "not work clothes" that were mostly soft shirts and comfy sweatpants, all a bit comfortably loose on Reaper. Geno and Cider looked adorable in them, especially with the sleeves and pant legs rolled up. But he had at least gotten them replacement slippers.

"no," Reaper replied, "but we will have to go soon." He sat down between his datemates and pulled them both close to cuddle. "we can go anywhere in the whole multiverse. we can go to any tale or swapverse if you want someplace small and familiar, or we can go to a universe on the surface where they have huge stores full of more options than you can imagine, there are even some that cater just to skeletons. oh! i bet you guys would love outertale. though i'm not sure how you'd feel about their fashion."

"maybe not a big shop," Geno said quietly.

"yeah, that doesn't sound like the best idea," Cider added.

"i'm not surprised. for now how about i show you two around here?"

"what? around the house? we've seen the whole house."

"it's just like our house back in uh… our home universe? birth universe?"

"it's just like most skeleton houses in most universes," Reaper said. "but have you been outside? it's not snowdin out there. "

"we've seen out the window, it's just a bunch of dead trees."

"it's like the outside of asgore's house in the underground, only less leaves on the ground and more weird twig trees."

"yes, but there's more to it than that. i should at least show you the entrance and the border."

"the entrance and border… to what?"

"the underworld." Reaper stood and held his hands out, "c'mon, it's not far."

The twins took his hands and Reaper helped them up. They walked outside and down the little stone path that took them from the front door through the dead forest. The path was necessary too, even if it was all dead the undergrowth was thick and thorny. A stray breeze blew dead, crunchy leaves cross their path and rustled the empty branches overhead. After a short walk the stones of the path petered out until it was just a thin path of packed dirt that joined up with a hard dirt road bordered by trees dripping brightly colored leaves. Reaper stopped near the edge.

"that's the entrance," Reaper said as he pointed towards a rocky area with what was little more than a hole in the uneven ground, a few twisted, dead trees dotted around it. The road led right to the hole, slanting down as it met the hole and disappeared into its depths.

"oh my god," Geno gasped, "THAT'S the entrance to the UNDERWORLD?!"

"you mean like the actual AFTERLIFE?!"

"yup. it's uh… generally not a good idea for mortals to go there, it mucks everything up. so please don't."

"yeah no, no thanks."

They both shook their heads and clung to his arms.

"that's a relief, most mortals are pretty curious even if they don't have someone they're trying to go find. the other thing i wanted to show you was the border." Reaper pointed in the opposite direction, where the leaves went from red to yellow to a lush green. "as the entrance to the underworld this whole area is a liminal space. behind us is part of the godly realm, and that over there is the mortal realm."

"aren't uh… aren't all the mortals in your universe human?" Cider asked nervously.

"yup," Reaper replied. "and sometimes they get impatient and go trying to hunt up a recently deceased loved one so they'll wander down there."

"and there's a path straight to your front door from here?!"

"don't worry, this is the border of the godly realm, it's hidden from mortal sight. that uh… that probably includes you two so don't leave the path or you might never find it again."

"don't ever come out here again, ok, got it."

"no kidding, can we not be here anymore?"

Reaper shortcut them directly into the living room. They both breathed a sigh of relief and flopped onto the couch. Reaper shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from wringing them anxiously, "was that too much? i just wanted to make sure you two know where you can and can't go."

"so sometimes you'll just see a random human walking by?" Geno asked.

"well… yeah." Reaper motioned to the living room around them, "we picked this spot because it's a good vantage point for the cave."

"ugh! how often do they do that?"

"pretty often, we'll get one or two every few decades."

"wait, decades?"

"that's not so bad then."

"you said they can't see the house, right? they don't even know to look for it?"

"not even a little," Reaper said, a bit confused. He understood them being wary of humans considering what one very Determined human **child** was capable of (amazing what a universal constant that was), but decades were terribly short. Shouldn't they be upset just how often humans wandered by?

"so even if one went hunting for the entrance every day they still wouldn't come here?"

"every day?!" Reaper sputtered. What a horrifying thought!

"anything else we should know about?"

"as part of the godly realm the forest connects to the rest of the gods eventually, all except life and her hidden garden. so if you go far enough, like you can't see the house anymore, you'll probably run into other gods."

"that's good to know."

"i wouldn't worry about it too hard, if you can shortcut to life's garden you can get back here just fine on your own, and most gods are very polite."

"anything else?"

Reaper shook his head, "nothing else. though if i think of anything i'll let you know."

"ok." Geno patted the couch between him and Cider, "come chill with us for a bit."

"yeah, it's already been a long afternoon, perfect time for," Cider was interrupted by a yawn, "time for a nap."

Reaper grinned as he sat down between them again, pulling each twin snug under an arm. "go ahead and take that nap, i have plans to keep you two up all night long. "

* * *

The three of them must have made a strange sight setting up a picnic on the roof like this. But the brothers Death had no neighbors, no one to stare at them and shake their heads as Reaper and his two (two! ) datemates shortcut back and forth between the house and the roof with an increasingly elaborate pile of things. A familiar red checkered blanket was laid down, a variety of snacks and drinks, a pile of pillows both on the blankets and to prop up said snacks and drinks against the roof's incline. The show was already starting by the time they sat sprawling out, but that was alright, there would be plenty more in the future.

"so how are you two enjoying your first sunset? "

"eh, i wouldn't call it my first," Geno said as he refused to take his eye off the colorful western sky.

"how?" Reaper asked in confusion, "you were trapped underground."

"the kid liked to break the barrier sometimes, i think they got some sort of sick kick out of getting everyone out just to put them back under the mountain when they reset. anyway, for some reason it's always sunset when the barrier breaks, you can see it through the window."

Reaper scoffed, "watching through a window is not the same."

"it's really not," Geno breathed.

"look at those clouds," Cider spoke up for the first time, pointing high in the sky where some clouds were painted rosy pink against a darkening purplish sky, deep blue shadows already in stark contrast on the far side of the clouds.

There wasn't much talking as the evening wore into night. The two were so entranced by watching the last rays of the sun slowly fade over the distant mountains that neither thought to look up until Reaper said, "hey, look up. "

They did. The sky wasn't completely dark yet, but the brightest of the stars were already out and shimmering in the sky. Geno and Cider looked up with open mouth wonder, not even remembering they could lay back and save their poor necks the strain until Reaper pulled them down.

Cider was the first to speak, pointing up, "look! is that… is that ursa major?"

"i think so," Geno confirmed. "and if you use the last two stars as a guide they're supposed to point you right to polaris."

Reaper smiled, more distracted by his datemates than the glittering stars above them. He lay there with his skull cushioned on pillows, watching his two datemates laying next to each other, pointing out stars and constellations, spouting off facts and trivia they both surely knew the other already knew. He wouldn't give this up for anything.


	8. This House is Going Down

They had pushed the walls until Reaper's (and Geno's and Cider's ) room was bigger on the inside, big enough to fit Reaper's wardrobe and dresser, filled with his new "casual" wardrobe so his datemates could wear "boyfriend clothing" for now. But that was only a stopgap measure at best.

"WE NEED A BIGGER HOUSE," Respite said firmly once all four of them were able to sit down and discuss it. "SIMPLY MAKING THE ROOMS BIGGER ISN'T GOING TO WORK, WE NEED MORE ROOMS."

There were nods and general sounds of agreement from the trio. It's easy to manipulate space in an existing room, less so to find a different room and make a space to jam it in. And even then they still need a preexisting room to do that.

"so we need to go house hunting?" Cider asked.

"HOUSE HUNTING? MY DEAR LITTLE MORTAL," Respite said as if about to reluctantly tell a small child the tooth fairy isn't real, "A HOUSE IS NOT A CREATURE YOU GO OUT INTO THE FOREST AND HUNT DOWN WITH A SPEAR."

"i uh… that's not… huh."

"what do gods do when they need a bigger house?" Geno cut in while Cider's thought processes were stalled.

"CONTACT THE GOD OF CONSTRUCTION, OF COURSE."

"oh, ok."

"makes sense."

"connie, right?" Reaper asked. "when's she coming over?"

"SO WE'RE ALL IN AGREEMENT ON RENOVATING THE HOUSE?"

The trio all made various sounds of agreement. "c'mon, bro, it's a good idea. why wouldn't we agree?"

"OF COURSE IT IS! I'LL TAKE CARE OF IT THEN, HEAVENS KNOW IF WE LEFT IT TO YOU YOU'D DRAG YOUR FEET AND IT'D NEVER HAPPEN."

Reaper's only response was a shrug and a grin.

* * *

"GENO, CIDER, I'D LIKE YOU TO MEET CONNIE. CONNIE, THESE ARE REAPER'S NEW DATEMATES."

"Hello!" Connie, a plump beaver who was actually a little shorter than the twins, held out a hand to shake. "It's very nice to meet both of you."

"so you're the god of construction?" Geno asked as he shook her hand.

"Oh I wish! Ha ha, no, I'm just a minor construction god."

"A VERY GOOD ONE! SHE BUILT OUR HOUSE."

"Yeah, that's all I ever build. Houses, garages, retaining walls, and the occasional shed."

"AND THEY'RE ALL EXCELLENT HOUSES, GARAGES, WALLS, AND SHEDS. SO, SHALL WE GET STARTED?"

"Certainly," Connie pulled some rolled up papers from her inventory, "I still have the plans from when this one was built." The whole group moved over to the kitchen table, where Connie spread the papers out and various spice jars were used to hold down the corners.

"WE ALREADY MADE REAPER'S BEDROOM BIGGER, BUT WE WERE THINKING IT WOULD BE NICE TO ADD A BATHROOM," Respite tapped one of the papers as he spoke. "WE ALSO SUDDENLY HAVE AN EXCESS OF FURNITURE, REAPER JUST WANTS TO TOSS IT BUT I THINK IT MIGHT BE NICE TO HAVE A SPARE ROOM."

"It might be easier to just use Reaper's current room as the spare and build a whole new room on." Connie pulled out a few very thin pieces of paper and laid them over the plans, then started drawing on one in pencil. "A room big enough for three, do you want a walk-in closet? No? No closet at all? I like your style."

Connie continued on like that, asking questions as she sketched and made notes. Once she had the bedroom and attached bathroom (it was going to be huge! Just as Reaper's datemates deserved ) figured out, she moved over to the paper with the ground floor's layout on it. "So I'm assuming you don't want this extra room just jutting out of the second floor all willy nilly. What do you want under it? Porch? Second living room?"

"maybe a couple "home office" rooms, someplace to have a little space that isn't shared with a bunch of other people," Reaper said with a tap of the paper.

"oh, we were kind of hoping for a library," Cider admitted softly.

"No reason we can't have both. We just outline this space for those rooms here," Connie drew an outline on the ground floor, then moved back to the second floor and drew the same outline around the new room. "What we can do is either just make this room that big, which seems a bit excessive even if we did add in that walk in closet, or we can have the roof of the ground floor become a balcony. Instead of this window we put in some French doors."

"OOOOOOH! THAT SOUNDS LOVELY."

"While we're at it we can add a little balcony to your room, if you want."

"THAT SOUNDS DELIGHTFUL, LET'S DO THAT."

Connie jotted down some notes. "I think balconies make a really nice addition to any house, whether it's only big enough for one chair or a whole patio set."

"sounds like a great place for a couple telescopes."

"Telescopes, huh? You'll only be able to see about half the sky that way, it wouldn't be hard to just make a nice little viewing platform on the roof."

"OH! THAT REMINDS ME, I WAS HOPING WE COULD ADD IN AN ATTIC STORAGE SPACE SINCE WE HAVE ACQUIRED SO MUCH EXTRA FURNITURE."

"bro, we can just leave it all in the save screen, it's fine there."

"I WILL NOT BE IRRESPONSIBLE AND HAVE YOU LEAVE THINGS JUST LAYING AROUND ALL OVER THE SAVE SCREEN, EVEN IF IT IS A WEIRD PLACE OUTSIDE THE NATURAL ORDER OF THE WORLD."

That was a lot of stuff. Fortunately Respite didn't know about most of the date spots Reaper had set up, he wasn't going to keep a bunch of backdrops and fake beaches in the attic thankyouverymuch. "we don't need a second sofa, bro. whether it sits in an attic and molds or sits in the save screen and is actually useful for the other people that stop by sometimes doesn't really make a difference."

"OF THE FEW PEOPLE THAT EVER EVEN GO TO THE SAVE SCREEN MOST ARE JUST AS CAPABLE OF VISITING YOUR DATEMATES HERE, I DOUBT ANYONE IS GOING TO GO HANG OUT IN THE SAVE SCREEN AT ALL WITHOUT THEM THERE."

"If I may interrupt," Connie said loudly before Reaper could argue back. She had her hands folded in front of her and a suspicious glint in her eyes, "So it sounds like you're trying to combine two households without just throwing out all the extra furniture. To do that you're going to need space, and lots of it." Without warning she swept the papers, and their weights, off the table. She then unrolled a huge piece of paper in their place, "How about we just tear this old thing down and make something better!"

Respite, who had dived to catch the salt shaker while the others simply used magic, sputtered in shock from the kitchen floor. "YOU BUILT THIS HOUSE! AND NOT EVEN A WHOLE DECADE AGO!"

"And I've learned more in that not-even-a-decade than I had in centuries before that. Those plans? Pfffffft! An amateur's attempt at modern architecture. This new house will be bigger. Grander! A house befitting gods of your esteemed stature." She drew confident, perfectly straight lines across the paper as she spoke.

"THIS HOUSE IS ALREADY APPROPRIATELY SIZED FOR MY STATURE, I DON'T HAVE TO DUCK FOR A SINGLE ONE OF THE DOOR FRAMES!" Respite said cheerfully as he got back into his seat. "ALTHOUGH WE SHOULD PROBABLY LOWER THE COUNTERS FOR GENO'S AND CIDER'S SAKES."

The twins huffed, it seemed not even being a Papyrus didn't save Respite from their height complex. How adorable. Geno leaned on the table, "can we make the kitchen bigger?"

"Definitely!" Connie grinned at Geno, "How big do you want it?"

"got a tape measure?"

Connie pulled one out of her inventory and tossed it to Geno, he and Cider vanished. "So if you want a guest room you must have guests. How many people are we talking here? Host a lot of get-togethers?"

"not really," Reaper said, "not a lot of people want to hang out with the gods of death."

Respite scoffed, "YOU MAY NOT HAVE MANY FRIENDS, BUT MY FRIEND COUNT IS STEADILY GROWING. AND I KNOW YOUR DATEMATES HAVE MANAGED TO ACQUIRE A FEW FRIENDS DESPITE THEIR UNTIL RECENT LOCATIONAL HANDICAP. I'M SURE THEIR FRIENDS WILL WANT TO COME OVER FOR SOCIAL EVENTS." Respite gasped in delight, "WE CAN THROW A HOUSE WARMING PARTY AFTER THE NEW ONE'S BUILT!"

"what?"

"Oh! That's always fun," Connie pointed at Respite with her pencil, her buck teeth on prominent display with her wide grin.

"AND YOU'LL BE INVITED TOO, OF COURSE. I'LL INVITE WAR AND KNOWLEDGE, YOU CAN INVITE LIFE, GENO AND CIDER CAN INVITE THEIR WEIRD SAVE SCREEN FRIENDS. OH! DO YOU THINK IF I INVITE KNOWLEDGE'S FRIENDS AS WELL THEY'D COME TOO?"

The twins came back then and rattled off some measurements to Connie. Reaper just leaned back in his chair and watched the chaos unfold. Looked like they were getting a new house.

* * *

Reaper leaned back in the lawn chair that up until about 10 minutes ago had been sitting on the fake beach he'd made for Geno a while ago. Sitting between his legs with his own head on Reaper's chest was Cider, they both settled in with a sigh and a groan. On their left Geno had collapsed into the lawn chair's mate, giving a sigh and a groan of his own. The three of them had just moved every last item and scrap of furniture from the house into the Save Screen. And what's more they had watched Respite clean the now empty house from top to bottom. It boggled the mind! They were about to tear it down, why clean it?

"oh good, they haven't started yet."

Reaper started at suddenly hearing the glitchy voice right next to him. Error had just arrived, the strange portals he used to get between universes still closing behind him.

"they're about to start, you almost missed the action," Geno said accusingly.

"time doesn't work in the anti-void," Error shot back grumpily.

"it doesn't work in the save screen either, but you never saw me using that shoddy excuse."

"Who's ready to TEAR THIS HOUSE TO SHREDS?!" War yelled gleefully.

"wHat?! i don't need any hELp destroying something!"

War whipped around to glower at Error, hands on hips, a spear still gripped in one. Her good eye narrowed once she recognized him, "What the hell are YOU doing here?"

"buzz off, i was invited," Error grumped right back.

"no you weren't," Geno cut in before the fight could escalate further.

"eXcuSE yOu?!"

"all we did was let you know about the remodel plans, you came here on your own," Cider clarified.

"you told me they're destroying something, that's as good as an invitation."

"he's got a point," Reaper said.

The twins just shrugged and made "eh" sounds.

War's eyebrow twitched, "Yeah, well… fine! You can help. But we called dibs already so you can't hog all the destruction. And you had better stop at just the house."

Error crossed his arms and made a dismissive sound, but didn't argue further.

"Alright!" War continued loudly, "Everyone not helping destroy this sorry excuse for a house clear?!"

"WAR! THIS IS NOT A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HOUSE! CONNIE WORKED VERY HARD TO MAKE US THE EXACT HOUSE WE ASKED FOR."

"Geronimo!" War held her spear high as she lunged for the house.

Respite's indignant scolding was buried under the earth shaking sound of spears, bones, and flurry of strings digging into wood, plaster, and concrete. Connie and a few gods she'd brought along with her all stood back to watch, munching on the buffet of snacks Cider and Geno had carefully laid out that morning. The group watched as not only the house but also a large swath of the surrounding forest were torn up and cleared out.

Once the house was gone, War standing in the midst of what was left of the rubble laughing, it was time for the changing of the guard. War, Respite, and Error all moved over to the snack table while Connie and her friends headed for the newly cleared out area.

"Let's get to it," Connie said cheerfully, rolling up the sleeves of her coveralls.

War leaned down to smooch Knowledge, who Reaper somehow hadn't noticed standing on the far side of the snack table until now. Respite was brushing his clothes off, having opted to wear his jogging outfit. Error immediately started shoving food into his face while pointedly ignoring the others.

Together the group watched as the house went up, first the supports, then the walls, then well… it became a bit harder to see what was going on because there were walls in the way. Shortly after the walls went up was when Error made a noise of disgust and left, leaving behind a destroyed snack table. The sounds of frantic construction continued long enough for Cider to start dozing.

"Tada!" Connie announced as she walked out the front door, followed by her posse.

Everyone applauded.

"Thank you!" Connie took a bow, her friends watched on with bemused smiles.

"AND NOW WE GET TO START ON THE FUN OF PUTTING ALL OUR THINGS BACK IN OUR NEW HOUSE!"

Reaper groaned, chorused by the twins. "bro, we already moved everything once today," Reaper whined.

"THEN YOU HAD EXCELLENT PRACTICE FOR MOVING IT ALL AGAIN! DON'T WORRY, I WON'T MAKE YOU HELP ME ARRANGE IT AS WELL."

Reaper made a sound of protest, but he also started trying to sit up. Made difficult by the sulking pile of bones in his lap. "cider, darling, sweetheart, one of the two loves of my eternal life… we need to get up."

"don't wanna."

"if you want to sleep in a real bed tonight we have to move it into the bedroom first."

"If it makes you whiny BABIES feel better I'll help you move it!" War declared while flexing.

"YOU CAN HELP ME ARRANGE EVERYTHING ONCE WE BRING IT OVER. I'M NOT SURE IF YOU CAN GET TO THE SAVE SCREEN, THERE'S NOT A WHOLE LOT OF WARRING GOING ON THERE. OR ANY, REALLY."

"Sure, makes sense. And then when we're done we can throw you a KILLER house warming party!"

"OH NO, WE'LL BE DOING THAT TOMORROW. REAPER'S DATEMATES INSIST ON BREAKING IN THEIR NEW KITCHEN BY COOKING EVERYTHING THEMSELVES, AND YOU KNOW HOW MORTALS COOK."

"hey!" Geno and Cider both protested.

"He means it takes you guys longer," War said with a guffaw.

The twins both made faces at War. Reaper sneakily took a photo of them. Or three.

* * *

End note: Montage! Montage! Time for a house destroying montage! I know there have been a lot in the last couple chapters, but we're slowing back down after this. For some reason the story insisted on upgrading the Death bros' house and try as hard as I can I just can't fight the story, you know? It will do what it wants.

And now for a little worldbuilding that won't really be relevant to the story itself because it's about Error. He's the original Geno, the one from the actual Aftertale comic. That means the Geno we focus on (and certainly not Cider, but that should be pretty obvious) didn't live through those exact events. So yeah, if I ever go into what Geno's life was like before he met Reaper I can go as off the rails as I want, isn't it great?


	9. The Warmest of Houses

Reaper was lounging in a corner of their brand new kitchen, well above the floor and out of the way of his datemates as they bustled about the kitchen. And if that happened to put him within easy reach of all the cookies still out on cooling racks… well, it's not like he's been scolded for it yet. Geno was following along some sort of video tutorial, a pair of wireless headphones over his ear holes as he squinted at his phone screen in concentration. Cider was reading out of a cookbook, also squinting. Huh. Maybe Reaper should take them to see an eye doctor.

The doorbell rang, both twins jumped and cursed lightly. "they're already here?" Geno asked in a mild panic.

"relax," Reaper said even as he drifted over the counter between the kitchen and living room, it's probably just the **first** guest, and most everything's done already."

"WAR! KNOWLEDGE! SO GOOD OF YOU TO COME!"

"see? just war and knowledge," Reaper reassured, secure in the knowledge they had nothing to worry about.

"the dips aren't done yet and we still have to plate half of this up!" Cider warbled in a panic.

"hey now, it's okay," Reaper said as he reached out for his darlings, "war's always early to everything. i think she thinks she has to help set up? and respite's going to take them on a tour anyway, we still have some time." That helped, but both looked on the verge of sliding right back into Panicville, population 2. "how about i help get the stuff that's ready out while you two finish these up?"

"start with the drinks," Geno ordered sharply. "snacks can be a little late if everyone has a drink."

"great idea," Reaper replied cheerfully. While the twins got back to their preparations Reaper shortcut the three feet over to the fridge and pulled out the various MTT brand soda cans, spider cider bottles, and even several sea teas Geno had insisted Reaper go buy for the party. It seemed he didn't want any punch bowls, which honestly: fair.

The two mismatched dinner tables had been put end to end in the living room just for this event. Reaper laid out all the drinks, the residual cold magic of the fridge would keep them chilled until well, well past the party, so clunky containers of ice weren't on the supply list. Then as promised he grabbed plates and started piling cookies onto them, then after those he started plating up the various finger foods his datemates had made. Most were the same recipes as their last picnic (oh! Reaper could totally take his datemates on a real picnic, he was so going to do that ). By then the doorbell rang again. Respite was still upstairs so Reaper had to answer it this time.

"Hello," a rather familiar lion said from the doorstep.

"hey, josh. c'mon in." Reaper let the carpenter in, along with everyone else who'd worked on the house. "connie, mario, electra, thank you all for coming."

"We wouldn't miss this for the world," Connie said eagerly. "Oh! Are those snacks?"

"yup," Reaper said proudly as he followed the small group over to the tables. "cider and geno should be finishing up with the chips and dip soon, and then we're all set to go."

"Speaking of," Connie motioned for Reaper to follow her across the living room, back to the entryway where they were pretty far from both the snack tables and the kitchen. "They must be really young gods to not even know who anyone is yet, you cradle robber, you."

"uh…" Reaper had absolutely no idea how to react to that.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to judge. I know a lot of new gods have popped up since this whole multi-verse mess started, I'm just surprised no one's talking about them yet, you'd think new Death gods would be all over the gossip."

"they're not," Reaper said weakly.

"Oh? I guess I just assumed with their eyes," Connie shook her head, "Never mind. I suppose what they're gods of doesn't really matter."

"they're not gods," Reaper corrected a bit more strongly this time.

"Oh." Connie's mouth made a strange O with her buck teeth in the middle of it. "I suppose they're guardians or something… right? They're not mortals?"

"connie, i'm the embodiment of death, mortals don't survive my touch."

"Right, right. Well anyway, I said I'm not here to judge. They're adults right? Good, that's good. I hope the three of you are happy together." Connie gave him a quick clap on the back, flinched, then went to go join the others milling around the snack table.

Reaper was stunned, he knew the twins weren't exactly mortal anymore, but to be mistaken for gods? That was really, really weird.

Boots stomping down the stairs shook Reaper from his reverie. Geno and Cider were bringing out the chips (store bought) and dips (homemade), and the doorbell rang again. Reaper was right there, so he really didn't have an excuse not to open it. Gossip and Rumor stood on the doorstep.

"Like, omigod! Are you really having a party?!"

"Thank you for like, inviting us and stuff." Both gods giggled as Reaper motioned them in.

"snacks right over there, along with the build crew."

"Snacks? That's like, wicked cool."

Reaper barely got the door closed before there was another knock. Looked like he was going to be stuck on door duty until the stream of guests died down. This time it was Error, he just barged past Reaper, shoved something shoddily wrapped at Cider, then headed straight for the snack table. Reaper hoped he doesn't clean this one out like he did yesterday's, everyone deserved to taste his datemates' amazing cooking.

Respite happily took Gossip and Rumor on a tour, Error and the twins trailing after him at a slower pace. The doorbell rang again.

"HELLO!" Blue greeted excitedly, Ink and Dream standing on either side while Stretch hovered behind his shoulder.

"hey," Reaper said back as he stepped far, far to the side to let the group in. Blue and Stretch were both mortals after all.

"WE COME BEARING GIFTS!" Blue announced enthusiastically, holding up a stack of four boxes wrapped in brightly colored paper. Dream held up a shiny paper gift bag with cheerful yellow tissue paper sticking out. Ink just grinned at them with empty hands.

"Ink apologizes for forgetting his gift," Dream said in embarrassment.

"I'll paint you a portrait or something."

"it's fine. though a portrait does sound pretty cool." Reaper motioned to the two coffee tables, also pushed off to the side of the room. "go ahead and just leave them there, snacks are over there. right now geno and cider ar-"

"ERROR!"

Reaper and Dream all startled at Blue's excited shout. He was waving up at the second floor, where Error was leaning against the railing to look down at the other guests. "no fighting inside the house," Reaper reminded them all.

"Don't worry, we aren't going to start anything," Dream promised.

Blue bounced in place as he continued to wave eagerly up at Error, a bright grin on his face. Error rolled his eyes and finally raised a hand to wave back.

Cider and Geno waved down at their guests as well, then motioned for Error to follow them further into the house. Blue was already excitedly bouncing over to the snack table where the other guests had gathered and started introducing himself. The doorbell rang again, so Reaper went to answer it.

"You did not ask who is there," Life accused with a wide grin.

"you didn't say knock knock," Reaper shot back as he let her in.

She held up a basket overflowing with fruits and vegetables, likely picked fresh from her garden. "I wanted to thank you and your brother for your kind gifts, and also give you a little something to warm your new home."

"those look like they need to be chilled rather than warmed."

"Only until one of your two datemates decides to bake them into something."

"yeah, aren't they the best? oh, here, we should probably put them in the kitchen."

"That does sound like the best place for these."

The other gods present all stared as Reaper led Life into the kitchen, and like the lady she was Life ignored them. "so here's the kitchen, you can just leave them on the island."

Life set the fruit basket down, then went prowling about the kitchen. "It is lovely, so modern!"

"yeah, i may have gone overboard on buying kitchen gadgets for geno back when i first found out he liked baking. heh, most of it's from outertale since they have the most advanced technology."

"I would not have guessed," Life said with a smirk as she ran a hand over the face of the star themed microwave.

"only the best for my datemates. "

She took another quick stroll around the kitchen, then spun to face Reaper, "Well this has certainly been a nice start to the tour, will you show me the rest of the house now?"

"uuuuuuuuuuh… ok." Reaper supposed it made sense, Respite would happily show her around but of everyone here she was really only Reaper's friend. And in all honesty Reaper was glad for a chance to get away from the growing crowd. "so this is the dining room and through that door is the backyard, it's really just a deck so far. we might put in a pool since we can't really do any landscaping. respite did suggest doing one of those rock gardens."

"Is that a hammock I see?"

"oh yeah, and that. it's pretty nice for napping, i'm sure it'll only be improved by sunlight."

"You know I have been meaning to get one myself, I have more than enough trees for one."

"i can vouch for one made of canvas, the ones made of netting less so. anyway, through here is the uh… well connie called it the "family room" but really it seems to just be a smaller living room with a fireplace," Reaper continued as he led her around the ground floor. He even showed her the laundry room! Then up to the second floor where, like the glitches before them, they stopped to look into the living room below.

"It is an interesting choice," Life commented.

"connie said vaulted ceilings are in, though i think she just really wanted a slanted ceiling." Reaper motioned to where the living room ceiling sloped up towards them.

"It sounds as though you gave her plenty of free reign on the plans."

Reaper shrugged, "she knows more about architecture than any of us." Reaper continued the tour, pointing out Papyrus's rooms, poked their heads into the guest room, and led her through the mostly empty library and even out onto the still empty balcony it opened onto. They nearly had an accident on the stairs, fortunately they heard Respite's, Gossip's, and Rumor's loud voices as they went down the stairs, the two groups waved in passing.

Up on the third floor Reaper took her through the master suite, including the huge bathroom Connie and Mario had worked so hard on for his darling datemates. The other rooms on the floor were the three "home offices" for the trio to split among them. "i have a feeling cider and geno are going to share their rooms, but at least they'll still have two rooms so when they want to be alone they don't have to be in the same room."

"It is good to have a little space all to yourself, I am sure the three of you will appreciate the extra rooms when you need them."

"you think so? i think i'll be too busy to use mine much, but geno and cider insisted that if i didn't have one then they wouldn't either."

"They both care about you very much."

"yeah, they really do. i care about them too."

"Just a little," Life teased while looking around the house he had built just for them.

"only enough that i'd do just about anything for them. oh, you wanna see the stargazing platform on the roof?"

"Of course, I demand nothing but a complete tour."

"you know why you can't trust stairs?"

"No, why can I not trust stairs?"

"because they're always up to something." They both laughed as they climbed up the final flight of stairs. Out on the roof he showed her the two lawn chairs (previously on the sidelines while Connie and her friends built the house, and previously previously sitting on a fake beach in the Save Screen) and talked about how they wanted to get more lawn furniture up here and some telescopes to be kept somewhere safer than the roof.

"I cannot help but notice the sheer number of porches, decks, and balconies this house has.

"they were all connie's suggestions."

"And yet you approved them."

"what can i say? after living under a mountain their whole lives geno and cider were excited about spending as much time out in the sun as possible."

"Have you taken them stargazing yet?"

"the very first night after they recovered we sat on the roof of the old house and watched the sun set and the stars come out."

"How wonderful! Dear boys deserve to be happy after all they have been through."

"i'm doing my best to make it happen." They both smiled and lapsed into silence, leaning against the rail and looking out over the dead forest that in the distance gave way to living trees swathing mountain sides. "so, shall we go back down to the party?"

"Yes, I am looking forward to sampling your datemates' cooking."

Reaper pulled them through a shortcut into the kitchen. A few more gods and mortals had arrived, enough guests that they had actually spilled out into the dining room so they could all chat in small clumps. Life and Reaper hung back a little, leaning on the counter that divided the kitchen and living room as they just watched the others mingle. Papyrus seemed to be gathering another group for a tour, Geno was chatting with Edge, and Cider was chatting with Dream, Connie, and Electra.

"so how did you make them immortal," Reaper finally asked.

"A lady does not share her secrets," Life replied with a wink.

"fair enough. i just can't help being curious, their timers are still there but they aren't counting down to anything."

"So their timers are stopped?"

"no, they're…" Reaper never knew how to describe the timers to anyone else, they weren't actually visible, not like souls or the bodies around them, he "saw" them through magic. How do you describe how scent looks to someone unable to smell or taste? "let's say they look like egg timers."

Life tittered, then composed herself, "Go on."

"well…" his eyes drifted over the crowd. "take the stars for example," Reaper said as he pointed out Dream. "dream never had a timer, apparently being a guardian is a lot like being a god. ink's timer… hey, where is ink?" They both looked around, but neither of them spotted him anywhere among the other guests. "welp, either there was some au emergency or we're going to find a few murals around the house. anyway, his timer was never finished so it never started. blue's timer," he pointed at where Blue was hanging out with Sci and Red, the three of them seemed to be giggling, "is just fine, ticking steadily away, driven by the weight of his own mortality like a swinging pendulum."

"An egg timer with a pendulum," Life asked with a grin.

"shush, it's all time anyway. and error over there," Reaper pointed to where Error was methodically tearing up napkins, "his timer has come loose. it's just kind of spinning freely and uh… uneven i guess? it's got a wobble?"

"Like a spinning arrow for a children's board game?"

"yeah, that works. but cider and geno have regular looking egg timers that are ticking away but they don't have any weight to them, not like blue or sci over there. it's like… it's like an egg timer that has already gone past where it should have stopped but it just kept going."

"And what does an Amalgamate's timer look like?"

"like someone jammed a bunch of egg timers through each other and they're all still running anyway, but them all occupying the same space seems to have turned them into some kind of perpetual… oh."

"Have you considered that their current state is not entirely my doing?"

"they both shot themselves full of enough dt to start melting them even without dying." Even Undyne didn't have that much DT, not melting until she was already dying. "but for undyne the timer didn't just keep going, it slowed way down while she was fighting."

"Your datemates are not Undyne, it stands to reason that such a unique case would result in a unique change to their egg timers."

"you said not entirely your doing, does that mean you did do something?"

"Well, I am not saying I did, but I will point out that I have created immortal life before."

"thanks for not bringing mercy, by the way."

"They are sad, but they understand your concerns. Also I promised to bring them back some treats."

"sure, how about we put together a little goodie baggie? i'm pretty sure either error or jerry will clean out any left overs by the end of the party."

"What? Jerry?" Life stood rigid and looked around frantically. "When did he get here?"

"no idea, but you know how jerry is: he just shows up. uninvited."

"Mmmm… let us go ahead and put together that baggie for Mercy."

* * *

Does Blue have a bottle of hard whiskey in his inventory? Of course not! How dare you even suggest such a thing! (It's a bottle of vodka since he wasn't sure what kind of drinks would be out. He's a little disappointed he didn't get to use it, but he's very proud Geno learned from the past).


End file.
